Thriller, horror, psychological and mystery. These 4 along with some genres I guess makes excellent shows not only in the anime industry but also in other platforms. This is because of there uniqueness. There outtake of the story is unique with uncommon sceneries, settings, characters, plot and conflict. This Winter 2019 anime season, we were introduced into the world of "The Promised Neverland". A world where if you are a healthy young blood, you will never like this world. You will never hope that you will be a main character of some parallel world or something. With kids being the main characters of the story, you thought this will be your typical "slice of life" drama or comedy things that you enjoy. But it turns out, not every show that have little children as the main character can always be light hearted. It can also become your worst nightmare.
Story:
The story of "The Promised Neverland" starts off with little kids in the Grace Field House, which is an orphanage. The three eldest of the family of children are Ray, Norman and Emma. The three of them are seen as talented, skillful, agile and intelligent base on what we see on the episode. From Hide and Seek to playing Tag, this two excels on physicality. They are seen as big brothers (Ray and Norman) and big sister (Emma) to other kids. Of course, these three will not take care of the children all by themselves right? The main caretaker is their "Mom" in the orphanage. She is your typical mother-like figure who loves her children so much and admire them. Everyone seems happy. Everyone is having fun. "Mom" loves her job. Children love her back. Ray, Emma and Norman are having a normal life until a departure of a friend came to play. A girl named "Connie" was about to depart or leave the orphanage because so-called "parents" are now going to take care of her. It was a joyous moment. Everyone was happy for her to leave and finally have a family. Then of course she left something behind and Emma and Norman proceeds to give it to her back to the gate. The night was really dark and a tragedy will happen. What Emma and Norman saw was not a family reunion. It was a murder, done by supernatural beings a.k.a "demons" from the "outer" world. Turns out that Emma, Ray, Norman and every single living child in the orphanage are "livestocks", caged in an orphanage surrounded with walls and vegetation. This drastic change of tone and mood of the atmosphere was overwhelmingly good. Plot twist on every episode synchronizing the characters' goals whether to escape or not. The Promised Neverland story is really unique among any other winter 2019 anime this season. It provides us a fresh idea of escaping one's position whether it is physically or mentally. It also delivers well with the plot twist making us audience grasp for more until the next episode and the plot twists are not just there to make us say "Wow okay". It is there because it connects to the story of the anime. It is there to not only surprise us viewers but also provide us the ongoing intake and pattern of the story without affecting the overall goal of it. In the end, The Promised Neverland is a type of anime where you must get involve to with its unique capability of placing plot twists on each scenes and an intensifying story. With each season having different types of genre but less/few mystery and thriller, The Promised Neverland is a great anime to start-off the year and it is a masterpiece.
Characters:
In the first episode of the anime, the joyful atmosphere made the personality of the three characters especially Norman and Emma. Norman is the master strategist and the one who admires Emma. Emma which is the girl who never backs down no matter what and have more physical capabilities than Norman and Ray. Ray, on the other hand have that gloomy tone (edgy one which makes sense because his hair looks like Sasuke) but he is also a master strategist like Norman. All of them looks normally fine and happy tho in the first few minutes of the episodes. As the plot twist came along, character development and their change started to appear. They became more fierce, deceiving and strong. Not to mention, Gilda and (character) as well. These kids were the highlight of the show and it was enjoyable and thrilling to watch them get over with the trials Mama and Sister Conney (who is a vital character that presented the possibility of children coming from the orphanage/House). All of these characters contributed to one of the best anime this season to come out ever.
Art:
After I watched some few episodes of the anime, I can't help not to read the manga as manga readers kept on telling how good the manga is. Comparing the art of the anime and manga, they are the same on my perspective. The anime captured the thrill, chilly atmosphere and the characters expression to every situation that they fall within. The shock factor of the characters, the cries, the demons, everything was intense with the art at played and it synchronizes with the music as well. Overall the art was good for the shock factor. It is not your best art but it fits the theme. Of course I have to mention the backgrounds of the OP and ED as they both define implicitly how dark or thrilling Promised Neverland is and they did it well.
Sound:
Ohhh boyyy the opening is really a hit on my ears. The OP's song and transition with the background art depicting how events can turn unfold without explicitly showing it is just excellent on the sound. The excitement, the rush to the chorus, the saxophone on the starting of the OP, it is all perfect. I have to worth mentioning the ED as well because it is a good one (but the OP is better). Aside from the songs, the background music whenever I chilling moment comes really goes through my spine and felt the chills. It captures well to the scene and makes the scene more thrilling. Overall, sound is perfectly played on this anime.
Overall thoughts and Enjoyment:
The Promised Neverland are one of the anime I am so engaged to watch on. It is mostly because of its engaging story. It captivates you to watch it more with its shock factor and plot twists on every scene. It makes me or you question "What is going to happen next?!" and once you get to know it, disappointment is not really there. Instead you will be fascinated how the author played out the scenes all correlating to the main conflict of the story. Hence, The Promised Neverland is a must-see show for those who wants to watch a thrilling anime that has no cliche or whatsoever. It is a fresh intake from the anime this Winter 2019 season and it is really really really enjoyable to watch.
